Plant for storage of coal



(No Model.) I 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. H. MITCHELL.

. PLANT FOR STORAGE OF GOAL. V No. 562,408. Patented June 23, 1896.

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(No Model.) 3 Shets-Sheet a.

J. H. MITCH ELL.

PLANT FOR STORAGE 0]? GOAL.

No. 562,408. Patented June 23, 1896.

l I I IIIIIILII L ANDREW BGRMMM.FNOfD-UTHaWASIIINFTDILD C UNITED STATESPATENT OF ICE;

JAMES H. MITCHELL, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PLANT FOR STORAGE 0F COAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 562,408, dated June 23,1896.

Application filed January 11,1895 Serial No. 534,533. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that 1, JAMES H. MITCHELL, a citizen of the United States,residing in Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia,-and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Plants forthe Storage of Goal, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates especially to means and mechanism for storing coalin bulk in a bin, and delivering the same therefrom, and has for itsobject the provision of simple devices whereby coal maybe piled in along bin by means of a single drag-conveyor, said conveyer being alsoemployed for redelivering the coal from the bin, which is so constructedas to enable the conveyer to carry the moving coal from below withoutdanger of clogging by a sudden flow of coal.

To attain the desired end, my invention involves certain novel anduseful combinations or arrangements of parts and peculiarities ofconstruction and operation, all of which will be hereinafter first fullydescribed, and then pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, Figure 1 is a planView, and Fig. 2 an end elevation, of my plant forthe storage of coal.Fig. 3 is a side elevation and partial section thereof. Fig. 4 is avertical crosssectional view at line 00 0c of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 shows asection of the upper slideway and a flight resting thereon.

l is a hopper into which the coal is dumped or supplied in any suitablemanner, bya coalelevator, or directly from the cars. Passing through thebottom of the hopper 1 is the upper portion of the drag conveyor-chain2, which travels in the direction indicated by the arrows a when theconveyor is in operation for filling the bin. Located below the upperportion of the conveyor-chain is a slideway 3, having without sides itsface ovoid in crosssection, as particularly illustrated in Figs. 3

and 4:. 4 are flights, secured to the conveyor or drag chain, the loweredge of said flights, which come in contact with the slideway 3,conforming to the surface thereof, and the opposite edge of the flightsbeing preferably made square, for the purpose hereinafter described. Theslideway extends beneath the hopper 1, forming its bottom, and the drachain is made to pass through said hopper,

and as the direction of travel of the chain is irom right to left, itcarries the coal out from the hopper 1 by the action of the flights. Thecoal immediately upon passing out from the hopper 1 commences to slidefrom the center of the slideway to each edge from whence it drops,coming in contact with a chute 5, which forms a continuation of the endwall of the bin at an angle of about thirty degrees, such an angle ofinclination permitting the coal to slide freely, but without undueforce. As the coal continues to enter this chute 5, it will pile upuntil it reaches back up the chute to the hopper 1, and as coalcontinues to be supplied from the hopper, it will commence to aocumulate forward in the direction of travel of the conveyor-chain, the coalitself forming the sides of the conveying-channel on each side of theslideway 3, this feature being fully illustrated in Fig. 4.

It is a well-known fact that coal will pile at an angle of thirtydegrees, or substantially that angle, and thus the elongated bin will begradually filled, the complete filling being accomplished from one endtoward the other by the coal passing over the slideway 3 until itreaches such a position upon said slideway as to fall therefrom, andthen after that portion of the bin is filled the coal will pile at thesides of the slideway, extending the channel of coal until the bin iscompletely filled.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that the coalcannot drop any material distance from the slideway to the bin, as owingto the mechanical construction and action of all the parts, it is asystem of elongated piling of the coal at an angle of about thirtydegrees, whereby the direct dropping of the lumps of coal is entirelyobviated, and at the same time there is freedom of sliding movement anddragging motion of the conveyer-chain and flights, as they are at alltimes supported by the slideway 3, over which they travel. I do notconfine myself to the oval cross-section of the slideway shown, as theface thereof may be made more fiat or the curve made greater, withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention, the object being .to givesuch a side inclination as to cause the coal in its forward travel towork its way toward the edge of the slideway 3, and after leaving it, topile at an angle of about thirty degrees, and also form sides to theconveyingchannel. The slideway 3 is broken at (3, so that none of thecoal will be conveyed beyond the end of the bin.

The conveyor-chain 2 passes over suitable sprocket-wheels 7, 8, 9, and10, the shaft 11 upon which sprocket-wheel 8 is mounted being providedwith a gear 12, which meshes with a gear 13 upon a shaft 14, power beingapplied thereto by means of a wheel 15.

I11 unloading the coal from the bin, the chain 2, with its flights 4, iscaused to travel in the opposite direction from that above described, asindicated by the arrow 1). At the bottom of the body of the bin areopenings, provided with sliding doors 16. These openings should bearranged along the entire length of the bin a short distance apart. Theyopen out from the bin into a lower slideway 17, the sides of which areat an angle of substantially thirty degrees. From the arrangements ofthe openings in the bottom of the bin, it will be readily seen that thecoal enters the slideway 17 from the side, and comes in contact with thetraveling flights 4:, located upon the drag-chain 2, and it is thencarried forward in the direction of the arrow I), up the incline 18, toa sufficient elevation to enable it to pass to a coal-car 19, or otherreceptacle. The openings in the bottom of the bin are of suflicientwidth to permit the coal to pass out freely, and at the same time, if anexcess of coal should accumulate in the slideway 17, it will be stoppedfrom further passing out of the bin by automatically chokin g itself offby the accumulation in the slideway, and the coal will not commence toflow out of the bin again until the excess is removed by the action ofthe flights upon the chain 2. In emptying the bin, it is preferable toopen the door 16 nearest to the car or other receptacle to be filled,and after the coal having direct communication with this opening hasbeen removed, open the next succeeding door, and so continue until thecontents of the bin is exhausted. It will be observed that the flights 4do not completely fill the slideway 17, the ends of the flights beingvertical and the sides of the slideway at an angle of substantiallythirty degrees. The object of this construction is to permit each flightto carry its quota of coal, the excess dropping back to be taken by thenext flight, and by this means the entire mass is easily carriedforward, and at the same time if too much coal escapes from the bin, theexcessive quantity will be distributed equally, as described. If theflights 4 completely fill the slideway 17, it would cause a choking andjamming of coal in front of the flights.

It will thus be seen that my arrangement of bin and conveying mechanismis admirably adapted for storing and for loading coal from the bin, themechanism being automatic in action, simple in construction andoperation.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new therein,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a plant for the storage of coal, a bin for the reception of thecoal; an elevated slideway,without sides, the face whereof is convex,and a conveyer-chain provided with flights the edges whereof conform tothe face of the slideway, the whole combined and arranged to operate,substantially as shown and described.

2. In a plant for the storage of coal, a 0011- veying-chain, providedwith flights having one edge concave, in combination with an elevatedslideway the face whereof over which the flights travel is convex,substantially as shown and described.

JAMES H. MITCHELL.

\Vitnesses:

A. M. PIERCE, E. D. WRIGHT.

